New Feature! Study Guide
Concert-at-Christmas, December 26, 2007: Spanish influences in Classical Music
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espagnol 1887
Emmanuel Chabrier España, Rhapsody for Orchestra 1883
Manuel de Falla El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Suite No.2 (The Three-Cornered Hat) 1919
Concept:
Students will learn about Spanish music while understanding the concept that music is often associated and has deep roots in dancing. Students will gain an understanding of the geographical location of Spain in comparison to the different countries that the specific composers were from.
Objective:
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To appreciate and understand the way in which foreign composers composed music from other countries such as Spain , depicting through music, sounds which are distinctly Spanish.
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To recognize the geographic distances of the nations in Europe in order to understand the uniqueness in the compositions.
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To be introduced to specific instruments which are associated with Spanish music.
Materials:
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Historical Map of Europe
Historical maps and coat of arms (1880-1898):
Europe - Political Overview - Carte Politique .
- Blank map of Europe
Source: http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxeurope.htm
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Recordings of:
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio Espangol
Emmanuel Chabrier España, Rhapsody for Orchestra
Manuel de Falla El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Suite No. 2
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If available, instruments such as the tambourine and castanets. If these instruments are not available, help students find items in a room that could be used in place of these instruments; pencils, desks, plastic containers etc. The extension section provides information for building handmade percussive instruments.
Sequence:
1) Before listening to the recordings, help students either gather castanets, tambourines and other percussive instruments or, for younger; students, have students make their own with different materials (examples of homemade instruments can be found bellow in the Extensions Section).
2) Listen to all three recordings. The listening can be divided up depending on the time allotted for the lesson.Different activities can be done while listening to the recordings.
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While listening, students might be encouraged to tap along with percussive instruments such as castanets or tambourines.
Spanish music is heavily influenced by dances from the various regions in Spain . In Rimsky-Korsakov’s orchestral work, this is very evident as he titled every movement after a dance.
Younger students:
Have students move around in the room, dancing to the various movements of this work. This movement should reflect the character of the music. Encourage students to find their own individual movements according to how they perceive the music.
Older students:
Refer to the Helpful Terminology for Instructor section bellow for the definition of the dances. Share with students the different meanings of the dances.
3) Have students take a look at the Historical Map of Europe: Click here to print the Historical Map.(the map is a historical map from the 1880s in order to have students discover what the nations were like during the time of the composers). The instructor should help to point out the locations of Spain , France and Russia and show where the composers of each of these pieces were when they composed these works. Younger students: Click here to print the Blank Map of Europe.
Have students use color pencils or crayons to color in the different nations that the music came from.
Older students:
Help students understand what the composers were doing while these compositions were being composed both through the biographies found in the Biographies of Composers section bellow and through the excerpts found here.
Rimsky-Korsakov had reached a peak in his compositional ability around 1885 and even remarked during this time, ‘In my musical convictions and views there appeared such hesitations and contradictions, that I cannot sort all this out … The end of music in general is near.’* However, it was also during this time that he composed some of the most important works that are most known today. He composed Capriccio Espagnol during this time along with other instrumental works which made him famous.
Chabrier had been in the practice of law as a civil servant in Paris while continuing his passion for music and composition on the side. It was around the time that España was composed that he had begun to gain popularity as a composer.
Falla composed El Sombrero de tre Picos during a time when he was becoming a recognized composer not only in Spain, but also in other parts of Europe . Encouraged by Diaghilev, a Russian impresario who was visiting Spain at the time of the compositions’ completion, Falla refined El SOmbreoro de tres Picos and expanded it from a chamber work into a full orchestral work. -from Grove Music Online
* Frolova-Walker, Marina : ‘Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
4) Ask students
“If a composer from a country other than the United States of America were to compose a piece about America today, what types of dances, instruments or ideas would be associated with the music? What type of music would you compose if you were asked to compose music from Africa ? From China ? From England ?”
This question should help in the understanding and appreciation of how the composers would have gained information on the country that they composed and how they perceived the different countries. Help explain to students about the different places that these composers were from and how they were fascinated with Spain by referring to the European map as well as the short biographies of the composers.
Closure/Questions:
What did the Spanish music make you want to do when you listened to it? Did it make you want to jump up and down or dance smoothly across the floor? How does knowing about the different places geographically help you understand this music better? How does understanding the meaning of the names of the dances help you to understand the type of music you hear?
Extensions:
Here are some directions and suggestions for making your own instruments:
TAMBOURINE
2 paper plates
stapler or glue
hole punch
string
jingle bells
crayons
Staple or glue two paper plates together, facing each other. Using a hole punch, make holes around the plates and tie jingle bells to the holes with string. Decorate the tambourine with crayons
Shake to play.
Note: Heavy duty paper plates may be more durable for this craft.
Safety note: If using a stapler, an adult should do this. When finished be sure to cover the staples with scotch tape.
Source: http://www.thefamilycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/9_musical_instruments.shtml
DRUM
empty oatmeal box with cover
yarn
pen
2 pencils
2 spools
construction paper
crayons
Before beginning, you can decorate the oatmeal box with construction paper and/or crayons for a colorful effect. Place the cover on the box. Use a pen to make a hole in the center of the cover and in the center of the bottom of the box. Through these holes, pull a piece of yarn long enough to hang around child's neck and down to their waist. For the drumsticks, place the spools at the ends of the pencils, secure with glue if necessary.
Beat to play.
Source: http://www.thefamilycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/9_musical_instruments.shtml
Helpful Terminology for Instructor:
Capriccio – term applied to some 16 th century Italian madrigals and alter to a kind of free fugue for keyboard instruments, and later to any light quick composition.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music
Alborada- dawn. Morning music. This word has special application to a type of instrumental music with a good deal of rhythmic freedom and often played on bagpipe and small drum.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music
A morning serenade or song performed in honour of an individual or to celebrate a festival; it is similar to the albada, an open-air concert performed at daybreak under the balcony or windows of an honoured individual. In the mid-15th century it was customary for the instrumentalists of noble Spanish households to perform the alvorada at dawn on the most solemn festival days of the religious calendar and on other important days. For example, in the household of Miguel Lucas de Iranzo, the Constable of Castile, the instrumentalists, playing ‘softly’, would perform the alborada, placing the loudest instruments, such as the trumpets and kettledrums, on the floor above the Constable’s bedroom and the remaining instruments and the singers at his door.
Alboradas abound in the Spanish folk repertory. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries they were sung in villages at dawn on the day of a wedding, accompanied by local instruments; they were dedicated to the bride and groom and occasionally also to the best man. On other occasions, the alborada took the form of a personal chant dedicated to Jesus or to a specific saint; it was sung by the women standing close to the venerated image, which was carried through the streets in a dawn procession. In the marshes of Valencia, ‘aubades’ (alboradas) were popular strophic songs accompanied by the dulzaina (oboe) and tamboril (small drum); the text and melody of one such song – three stanzas and a refrain – survives in La trulla, an ensalada by the mid-16th-century composer Bartolomé Cárceres.
The popularity of the alborada is reflected in the fact that Ravel entitled one of the five pieces from Miroirs (1904–5) Alborada del gracioso ; it is an Impressionist composition which, aside from its title, bears little resemblance to the popular alborada. Rimsky-Korsakov gave the title ‘alborada’ to the first and the third sections of his Spanish Capriccio (1887).
GÓMEZ, MARICARMEN : 'Alborada', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Fandango – A lively Spanish dance believed to be of South American origin. It is in simple triple or compound duple time, and of ever-increasing speed, with sudden stops during which the performers remain motionless, and with intervals during which they sing. Accompaniment is normally by guitar or castanets.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music
A couple-dance in triple metre and lively tempo, accompanied by a guitar and castanets or palmas (hand-clapping). It is considered the most widespread of Spain 's traditional dances. The sung fandango is in two parts: an introduction (or variaciónes), which is instrumental, and a cante, consisting of four or five octosyllabic verses (coplas) or musical phrases (tercios), sometimes six if a verse (usually the first) is repeated. Its metre, associated with that of the bolero and seguidilla, was originally notated in 6/8, but later in 3/8 or 3/4.
Its origins are uncertain, but its etymology may lie in the Portuguese fado (from Lat. fatum: ‘destiny’); in early 16th-century Portugal the term esfandangado designated a popular song. The earliest fandango melody appears in the anonymous Libro de diferentes cifras de guitarra (E-Mn M.811; 1705), while its earliest (albeit brief) description is found in a letter dated 17 March 1712 by Martín Martí, a Spanish priest. The term's first appearance in a stage work is in Francisco de Leefadeal's entremés El novio de la aldeana ( Seville , early 1720s). By the late 18th century it had become fashionable among the aristocracy as well as an important feature in tonadillas, zarzuelas, ballets and other stage works.
Various suggestions have been made about the fandango's origins, including that it is related to the soléa, jabera and petenera (Calderón); that the Andalusian malagueña, granadina, murciana and rondeña are in fact fandangos accompanied by guitar and castanets (Ocón); that its forebears include the canario and gitano (Foz); that it is derived from the jota aragonesa (Larramendi, Ribera), although Ribera also proposed an earlier Arabic origin; and that the Arabic fandûra (guitar) may be a possible etymological source (Pottier). Yet the two prevailing theories point to either a West Indian or Latin American origin (Diccionario de Autoridades), although Puyana strongly suggests that the fandango indiano came from Mexico; (see also Osorio); or a North African origin (Moreau de Saint-Méry).
One must distinguish between the varied provincial forms that the classical fandango assumed through multi-regional Spain during the 18th and early 19th centuries, and its role in Flamenco, in which it approaches cante jondo, with its florid and non-metric performance, in contrast to the fandanguillo of cante chico (see Cante hondo).
Numerous travel accounts of the 18th and 19th centuries were highly critical of the overtly sensual fandango wherever it was performed (see Etzion). A threatened ban by the church resulted in a trial during which the pope and cardinals witnessed a performance of a fandango and saw no reason to condemn it. This event, reported in a letter by P.A. Beaumarchais dated 24 December 1764, provided the subject for late 18th-century Spanish comedias, and much later for Saint-Léon's ballet Le procès du fandango (1858). The Spanish fandango, like the bolero and cachuca, enjoyed great popularity in Parisian theatres in the 19th century; Arthur Sullivan wrote a cachuca for the chorus ‘Dance a cachucha, fandango, bolero’ in the second act of The Gondoliers (1889).
From the 18th century fandangos have been incorporated by composers into both stage works and instrumental pieces. Notable examples include Rameau's ‘Les trois mains’ (Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin, c1729–30); Domenico Scarlatti's Fandango portugués ( k492, 1756), ‘Fandango del Sig R Scarlate’ (attribution doubtful; see Puyana) and an unedited fandango (see Alvarez Martínez); part 2 no.19 of Gluck's Don Juan (1761); the third-act finale of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1786); the finale of Boccherini's String Quartet op.40 no.2 (1798); Antonio Soler's Fandango for keyboard (late 18th-century; attribution doubtful); Adolphe Adam's opera Le toréador (1849); Gottschalk's Souvenirs d'Andalousie op.22 (1855); Rimsky-Korsakov's Spanish Capriccio (1887); Albéniz's Iberia (1906–9); Granados's ‘Fandango de Candil’, Goyescas no.3 (1911); Falla's El sombrero de tres picos (1919); Ernesto Lecuona's song Malagueña (1928); and Ernesto Halffter's ballet Sonating (1928). Ravel's original choice for the title of his Bolero (1928) was Fandango. Beethoven's sketchbook of 1810 also contains a fandango theme.
KATZ , ISRAEL J: 'Fandango', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Biographies of Composers:
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov 1844-1908
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), Russian composer and musical theorist, one of the greatest composers of the Russian nationalist school, and a great master of orchestration.
Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was born on March 18, 1844 , in Tikhvin, near Novgorod . He studied piano as a child. In 1856 he was enrolled at the Naval Academy at Saint Petersburg but continued his musical studies. In 1861 Rimsky-Korsakov became an associate of the Russian composer Mily Balakirev, the dominant figure of a group of young, nationally conscious Russian composers including Aleksandr Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, and César Cui. Together with Rimsky-Korsakov this group of composers became known as The Five.
After his retirement from active service in the navy in 1873, Rimsky-Korsakov was made inspector of naval bands. The knowledge that he gained in this capacity was subsequently employed to advantage in the scoring of his compositions. From 1871 to his death he was professor of practical composition and instrumentation at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory (now the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory), and from 1886 to 1890 he conducted the Russian Symphony concerts in Saint Petersburg . He also completed Borodin's unfinished opera Prince Igor in 1889 and reorchestrated Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov in 1896 after the deaths of the composers. Rimsky-Korsakov himself died on June 21, 1908 , in Saint Petersburg .
Rimsky-Korsakov is remembered today more for the freshness and brilliance of his instrumentation than for the originality of his musical ideas. His influence as an orchestrator was exercised directly on his pupils, notably the Russian composers Igor Stravinsky and Aleksandr Glazunov, and indirectly through his treatise The Foundations of Instrumentation, published posthumously in 1913.
Among Rimsky-Korsakov's works are the operas Snegurochka (Snow Maiden, 1882) and Le coq d'Or (The Golden Cockerel, 1909) and the symphonic works Capriccio Espagnol (1887), Scheherazade (1888), and the Russian Easter Overture (1888). His autobiography, My Musical Life, was published posthumously in 1909 (trans. 1942).
"Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Emmanuel Chabrier 1841-1894
Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-94), French composer, whose works are characterized by rich color, vivacity, humor, and strongly marked rhythm. He was born in Ambert, Puy-de-Dôme. Largely self-educated as a musician, Chabrier was for 18 years a civil servant in the French government before retiring to devote himself to musical composition. Among his compositions are the operas Gwendoline (1886) and Le roi malgré lui (King in Spite of Himself, 1887) and the orchestral pieces España (1883) and Joyeuse marche (1888). He also composed choral works and music for piano and for voice and piano. Chabrier's style and unconventional harmonies influenced such French composers as Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie.
"Emmanuel Chabrier," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Manuel De Falla 1876-1946
Manuel De Falla (1876-1946), most important Spanish composer of the 20th century.
De Falla was born in Cádiz on November 23, 1876 . As a child he studied music with his mother and with local teachers; as a young man he studied composition with the noted musicologist and teacher Felipe Pedrell. From 1905 to 1907 de Falla taught piano in Madrid , and from 1907 to 1914 he studied and worked in Paris . He lived and composed principally in Spain from 1914 to 1939, when he took up residence in Argentina . He died on November 14, 1946 , in Buenos Aires .
Under the influence of Pedrell, an advocate of the doctrine that a nation's folk songs should be the basis for its art music, de Falla developed a nationalistic style that became characteristic of his compositions. Generally, however, he did not use actual Spanish folk songs but created themes of his own in the spirit of Spanish folk music. Another element of his work, the impressionistic, was derived from the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, whom de Falla came to know in Paris . De Falla was a leader in the revolt against German and Italian influence in Spanish opera and against the sterility of contemporary Spanish orchestral and chamber music. Among his compositions are Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain, 1909-1915), for orchestra and piano; the opera La vida breve (Life Is Short, 1913); the ballets El amor brujo (Wedded by Witchcraft, 1915) and El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat, 1919); the musical episode for puppets El retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Pedro's Puppet Show, 1924); the Concerto for Harpsichord (1923-1926); and music for guitar.
"Manuel De Falla," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Information compiled by: Elina G. Hamilton
Bibliography
"Emmanuel Chabrier," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
"Manuel De Falla," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
"Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Formaro, Amanda. 9 Easy to Make Musical Instruments for Kids, http://www.thefamilycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/9_musical_instruments.shtml
Frolova-Walker, Marina : ‘Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), http://www.grovemusic.com
Gómez, Maricarmen: 'Alborada', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), http://www.grovemusic.com
Hess, Carol A.: 'Falla, Manuel de', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), http://www.grovemusic.com
Historical maps and coat of arms (1880-1898): Europe - Political Overview - Carte Politique
http://www.hicleones.com/callmap-e.php?tekst=10048&map=Europe%20-%20Political%20Overview%20-%20Carte%20Politique
Huebner, Steven: ‘Chabrier, Emmanuel’, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 16, 2007 ), http://www.grovemusic.com
Kennedy, Michael. The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second edition revised. Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2006
Learning Objectives
State of Oregon Content Standard
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/documents/05-06socialsciences.pdf
Geography
Content Standard |
Benchmark 1 |
Benchmark 2 |
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Grade 3 |
Grade 5 |
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Common Curriculum Goal: Geography |
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Understand the purpose of maps, globes, and other geographic tools. |
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Content Standard |
Benchmark 1 |
Benchmark 2 |
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Grade 3 |
Grade 5 |
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Common Curriculum Goal: World History |
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Music
Source: http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/real/documents/04-05thearts.pdf
Content Standard |
Benchmark 1 |
Benchmark 2 |
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Grade 3 |
Grade 5 |
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Common Curriculum Goal: Historical and Cultural Perspective |
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Identify an event or condition which inspired a work of art. |
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Content Standard |
Benchmark 1 |
Benchmark 2 |
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Grade 3 |
Grade 5 |
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Common Curriculum Goal: Aesthetics and Art Criticism |
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Describe an idea or feeling connected with viewing or hearing a work of art. |
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Source: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/standards/standards_k4.cfm
Content Standard #6 : Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
Achievement Standard:
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Students identify simple music forms when presented aurally
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Students demonstrate perceptual skills by moving, by answering questions about, and by describing aural examples of music of various styles representing diverse cultures
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Students use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances
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Students identify the sounds of a variety of instruments, including many orchestra and band instruments, and instruments from various cultures, as well as children's voices and male and female adult voices
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Students respond through purposeful movement (e.g., swaying, skipping, dramatic play) to selected prominent music characteristics or to specific music events (e.g., meter changes, dynamic changes, same/different sections) while listening to music.
Content Standard #9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Achievement Standard:
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Students identify by genre or style aural examples of music from various historical periods and cultures
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Students describe in simple terms how elements of music are used in music examples from various cultures of the world
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Students identify various uses of music in their daily experiences and describe characteristics that make certain music suitable for each use
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Students identify and describe roles of musicians (e.g., orchestra conductor, folksinger, church organist) in various music settings and cultures
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Students demonstrate audience behavior appropriate for the context and style of music performed
Content Standard #3: Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments
Achievement Standard:
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Students improvise "answers" in the same style to given rhythmic and melodic phrases
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Students improvise simple rhythmic and melodic ostinato accompaniments
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Students improvise simple rhythmic variations and simple melodic embellishments on familiar melodies
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Students improvise short songs and instrumental pieces, using a variety of sound sources, including traditional sounds (e.g., voices, instruments), nontraditional sounds available in the classroom (e.g., paper tearing, pencil tapping), body sounds (e.g., hands clapping, fingers snapping), and sounds produced by electronic means (e.g., personal computers and basic MIDI devices, including keyboards, sequencers, synthesizers, and drum machines).
